[Abe Sargent]

The Handicaps of Mataram

1). Mataram is Hindu. All of the other small island states are Islamic, as is Malacca, the closest mainland country. The other mainland states close to mine are Buddist. I am seperated from my Hindu brothers by a long sea voyage over to the Indian Peninsula. This will make it hard to control any conquered territory, as well as making it less productive.

2). Mataram is Hindu, part II. A Hindu country has a worse penalty to its technology development. Hindu is worse than Islam which is worse than Orthodox which is worse than Latin. As such, my tech growth should be quite stunted by the time the Europeans make it to my shores.

3). Mataram is Javan in culture. My two provinces are the only Javan provinces in the game. As such, taking other provinces will always result in a reduced production and tax value when controlling them (-30% for a province being from another culture. -30% for it being from another religion. That combines for a -60% with every province around me currently controlled by another power)

4). Capital is Bali, an island. My other province is Surabaja on the island of Java. If my capital were Surabaja, or any of the other Indonesian players, my capital would have an unconnected route to neutral, or unclaimed, territory. That would give me a nice boost in colonist growth. However, having an island capital means it can never have an unconnected path to unclaimed territory, and therefore, no colonist growth.

5). Mataram has no CB shields on other provinces. In EU2, you have to have a "Casus Belli" on another country in order to declare war on them, unless you want to lose a lot of reputation. You gain these CB temporarily for various diplomatic activities. You also have a permanent CB on any power who controls territory you have a historical claim to. You can also demand a CB territory in a war without conquering it. Without any CB provinces, Mataram cannot wage a war on any power without upsetting other countries, or it must wait until a natural CB arises.

6). Mataram begins with its two provinces having Cotton and Coffee. Those are certaianly two halfway decent exports. But, other countries in the area have Spices - SPice is one of the best exports in the game. Plus, I have no grain provinces, so the size of my military is limited. There is only one grian province I know of in the Indonesian area - a neutral territory adjacent to Atjeh. After that, it's central SE Asia in Laos, Lampang, and Sarakham. I will need that neutral gain territory sooner or later, despite its low economic value.

As such, I begin with poorer exports than those around me, and I don't even have any grain in easy reach.

7). The natives in these areas are numerous and pissed off. Neutral provinces have natives in them before they are settled. A player has the option of whacking the natives and settling the province, which will be more likely with the natives gone, or keeping the natives around and settling around them. If you settle around them, you will have the possibility of a native uprising, a reduced chance of colonization, but if you get a colony going, the natives will join the population of the colony.

Ideally, you want provinces with a high amount of natives that are very peaceful. Indonesia has the opposite. The province right beside mine on Java has 15,000 natives with a High aggresiveness. I can't recall ever seeing 15,000 natives in one territory before. To compare, my capital of Bali begins the game with 10,000 and Surabaja begins with 8,000 inhabitants.

As such, colonization will not be without its hazards.

8). Along with a slow tech development, I also do not begin with Trade Level 1. Instead I have to research it. TR1 allows me to use merchants to send to trade centers and yields trade income. Without merchants in the first few years, I will be unable to quickly gain an economic edge on my neighbors.

9). At 0% interest, in the beginning of the game, my infantry costs 12 ducats a thousand and 21 for cavalry. I can affect that with domestic policy sliders, but it's awfully expensive for military so early in the game. Inflation will only make it worse.

10). I begin with funky Domestic Policy sliders. I'm close to Aristocracy, but not as close as many others. I am in the middle in the Centralization/Decentraliztion slider - very unusual. I am just barely towards serfdom where most countries begin with hard core Serfdom. I am in the middle on Free Trade/Mercantilism, towards Offense Doctrine, heavily Naval, slighty towards Quality. I am also in the middle on Narrowminded/Innovative.

There are some serious adjustments that need to be made here. I need to be more Narrowminded, Free Trade, Offensive, and Quality. I will also need to offset the tech disadvantge of Narrowminded, so I will probably not move there for a while.

11). My maps of the area are decent, and the mainland is depper than I would have expected. But, I lace knowledge of a lot of the eastern islands, like Timor, Buru, Ceram, Tindore, the Phillipines, and so forth. I will need to explore as soon as a random event gets me an Explorer or Conquistador unit.

12). To my knowledge, Mataram has no events. Therefore, I have to rely on random events to give me my kingdom. As such, I cannot know when Conquistadors/Explorers will come, or if they even will. Likewise, I will get no leaders other than the generic ones.

13). I will never have access to the purchasing of European mercenaries. Sahme, for I really liked buying them later in the game when inflation was out of hand, or as an emergency purchase to shore up defenses.

Interesting disadvantages all around.

-Anxiety